Woman arrested after pushing 100-year-old Wal-Mart greeter

A 100-year-old woman who works as a greeter at a Milwaukee Wal-Mart said Monday she is bruised and sore but otherwise OK after a customer pushed her during a dispute Sunday.

In fact, Lois Speelman said she plans to return to work Thursday.

"I'm just stiff and sore," she said in a telephone interview from her Greenfield home. "I'll deal with that."

Speelman was working at the Wal-Mart at 3355 S. 27th St. when a 37-year-old woman pushed her after apparently becoming upset that Speelman was trying to verify that the woman had paid for water bottles that were inside her shopping cart, Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said Monday.

The woman was arrested, and the Milwaukee County district attorney's office is reviewing the case, Schwartz said.

Speelman said she didn't want to discuss details of Sunday's incident until the investigation is complete, but she said she was simply doing her job by making sure the customer had paid for her items when she was attacked.

"That's our job," Speelman said. "That's what we're up there in front for, to watch people going and coming."

Speelman said she usually works with a partner, but her partner was performing another task when the incident occurred.

Speelman said she hit her head and was taken by ambulance to Wheaton Franciscan-St. Francis Hospital, where she underwent a CT scan and was released.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said in a voice mail that the customer's actions were "appalling" but did not return a call seeking more information about the incident.

Speelman celebrated her 100th birthday at the store in August. She has been widowed twice and started her job as a greeter at the store when she was 90. She retired at age 95 but returned two years later, after her only living son died.

Speelman said she works five days a week. A spokeswoman for the store said at the time of her birthday that her co-workers are like family.

Speelman said Monday that her employers treat her well but that she works because she needs the money. She also said she's had previous run-ins with customers.

"You get a lot of customers who are not out to hurt you, but they always give you a bad time," she said.